Queen Elizabeth

THE QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE COMPANY IN REHEARSALS

Thank you for all the great feedback again, it’s great to hear from you and read so many of your comments and questions. I know everyone is eager to know who will name our new Queen, but I’m afraid I don’t have that information yet, but rest assured as soon as soon as I know I’ll post it here, along with any other announcements as and when they are made.

There has been a tremendous response to the entertainment feature that was posted on the 13th of July, which gave details of the new Queen Elizabeth Theatre Company. With all that news in my mind, last week I was very lucky enough to be invited to see how rehearsals for our new shows were going. I went to the rehearsal studios in Northampton with Cunard’s Director of Entertainment, Martin Lilly, and after a series of planning meetings we went to meet members of the new Queen Elizabeth Theatre Company.

Regular Cunarders will be delighted to see some familiar faces amongst the team such as Dance Captain Sergey and Company Manager Masha. It was great to meet the new element of the programme as well in the form of our five actors. Then it was time to see how the shows were coming on and our first treat was to see all 21 members of the Theatre Company on Stage for the signature show; A Slice Of Saturday Night.

At this stage the choreography and setting of show had just been completed, so we were lucky to be the first to see a performance, albeit in a raw state that didn’t include costume, sets, lighting or orchestra. The first thing that struck me was how fabulous it was to see 21 talented cast members on stage – and yes, what amazing talent. The whole cast were stunning and the show was engaging, fun and will without doubt be an absolute hit.

I don’t want to give too much away, but I can tell you it’s a great show that really has a fantastic “Feel Good Factor” and I loved it, and am sure you will too – I just can’t wait to see the finished production.

We were then treated to some numbers from the new dance show “La Danza”, which features some incredible choreography, with dance styles including the jive. We also saw the dramatic “Pasadoble” which has the literal meaning of double-step in Spanish, and is the type of music associated with the drama of a bullfight.

You could certainly sense the dramatic nature of the dance from the incredible cast, and as you can sense from this picture, even in this rather raw state it looked amazing.

I’d like to thank everyone at Belinda King Creative Productions for looking after us so well, and making it such a great visit.

The following day back we were back in Southampton and Martin showed me some pictures that had just been sent to him by the theatre outfitting team in Monfalcone, Italy. I hadn’t seen pictures from the Royal Court Theatre for some time, so you can imagine how excited I was when I saw how far it had come on:

I’m sure you’ll agree it’s amazing progress, and looking around the venue you can see the Theatre Boxes in all their glory with the rich blue blending beautifully with the gold, complete with art deco flourishes that pay homage to the original Queen Elizabeth.

I’m now even more excited about going to see the ship for myself on Thursday, when as well as meeting members of the press to show them around our new Queen, we’ll also be filming some more Video Blogs, the first of which I am hoping we’ll be able to post next Monday.

Meanwhile coming very soon are a couple of great stories from Queen Mary 2 on her Transatlantic Crossings, and of course some news and special photos from Queen Victoria as she makes her maiden voyage around Britain.

That’s all to come, along with all the regular news from around the Cunard World. Cheers for now, Alastair

On reading this blog and seeing the photographs the shows on Queen Elizabeth look to be amazing and can’t wait to watch them on our cruise on the new Queen next year. We have enjoyed all the shows on Queen Victoria and it looks as though Queen Elizabeth will again amaze all her guests with the fantastic line up of shows. Have a safe journey out to Italy and look forward to the video blogs.

Thanks Alastair, The Queen Elizabeth Theatre Company sounds great and we are really looking forward to seeing their performances on board, Can’t wait for the latest update on the Queen Elizabeth, and to see how she is progressing
Andy

Hi Alastair
The theatre looks fantastic and the shows sound right up our street. I have thought for some time that something “sixties” would go down well on Cunard ships given the average age of your discerning guests. We are really looking forward to our trip on Queen Elizabeth to the fiords next May. We will be watching progress on your blog with great interest. Thanks

The pictures on this site look incredible, looking at the them gives me a very excited feeling. I cannot put into words the immense feeling of pride at being asked to be the comedian to appear on the new Queens maiden voyage on October 12th.